in his book "holy discontent," bill hybels describes a person's holy discontent as the one aspect of this broken world that, when you see it, touch it, or get near it, you just can't stand it.

i'm not sure if this is what hybels meant, but today i am fully acknowledging my holy discontent for sitting through poorly led meetings.

here are a few suggestions for leading a great meeting in which everyone feels empowered to contribute:

1. Start the Meeting on Time. this gets the meeting off to a great start and communicates to the group that you value their time and that you plan to lead as efficiently as possible.

2. Don't Waste Time. it's easy for groups to get side-tracked or distracted, lead confidently by keeping everyone on topic. if you hear someone say, "i know this is off-topic but.." immediately interrupt by asking the person to save the comment for after the meeting.

3. Introduce & Explain Each Person's Role. lately i've been to a bunch of meetings where i didn't know the other people around the table, so i spent too much mental energy trying to figure out why each person had been invited and what their specific role in the group would be. help preserve your group's mental energy by introducing each person at the beginning of the meeting and explaining why each person is sitting around the table.

4. Find the Best Facilitator to Lead the Meeting. and this often isn't the leader of the group. the skill of facilitating a great meeting is a completely different skill than leading a team. find the best facilitator you can by looking for a person who is focused, a good listener, able to steer conversation, call out the best in people, and determine next steps. once you've found a great facilitator ask this person to lead every meeting you are responsible for.

5. Before Calling a Meeting, Ask Yourself 10 times if this Meeting is Absolutely Necessary. often times, we have a meeting - just to say we had a meeting. before calling an official meeting, ask yourself if the work will better be accomplished individually than in a group. I love what Tony Kim says in his blog, "brainstorming is broken"

"...There have been many studies done over decades that conclude the same thing- traditional brainstorming leads to mediocre results. We do it because we are social creatures, driven by guilt, people pleasing, and misconceptions to involve everyone. It ‘feels’ right even though the results are predictable. For example, in the world of inventions, the individual is much more successful than the group. What’s the last invention you can remember accredited to a team versus an individual?"

a couple of years ago I had the privilege of working on my master's degree at the erikson institute located in the heart of downtown chicago. i love erikson's vision statement:

"Our vision is that every adult who works with young children or on their behalf will be knowledgeable, aware, skilled, and alive to the possibilities of each child’s life."

what initially drew me to erikson was their commitment to child development from a wholistic approach - they consistently ask the question, "how does a child develop through his family, community, and culture?"

how often do we ask that question as it pertains to a child's spiritual development?

the time i spent with craig johnson and clayton hurst, and the kids' life team was a highlight of my year! i visited the wednesday night program for kids, and was beyond impressed with the depth of the curriculum, the volunteer commitment and competency, and the organization and strategy of the overall leadership.it was honestly like nothing i had seen before.

the picture to the right is a picture of the small group time for elementary age kids. the volunteers are trained to lead children in conversation as opposed to following a strict lesson plan. it was amazing to watch the leaders connect with the children on a very deep level.

the most moving part for me came in the middle of the large group worship time. craig encouraged any kid who needed prayer to walk to the back of the room, find a leader and pray together. it was unbelievable to watch so many kids immediately walk to the back of the room and pray with their leaders. i felt so many emotions as I watched adult men kneel on their knees in order to pray with kids who needed prayer. i often look at this picture and remind myself that this is what the church is supposed to look like!

I think the world of this church and am so grateful for all they are doing to spiritually form children for a lifetime.

there's a lot of conversation today around security programs for children at church. i love the conversation around the philosophy of implementing security programs. ivy beckwith's book, "postmodern children's ministry" really challenged my thinking about the ways in which security programs often break down community. after reading her thoughts, i came to my own conclusion that when we offer a safe environment for our children at church - we actually encourage community by engaging our children in a faith experience free from emotional and physical danger.

i'm a volunteer at my own church First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights. recently, we worked hard to evaluate and implement new security procedures. with the help of the willow creek association, we put together this video series to show our simple journey.

for the past 2 years, I've been working as the executive director of children's ministry for the willow creek association. i've had an absolute blast working on the conspire conference and developing new resources for children's ministry leaders. and the team i've been privileged to work with has been phenomenal! there's nothing like working with a team where passions are aligned and everyone is working in their strengths area.

but now i'm on to new adventures! i'm fully convinced that we need to re-think the ways in which we are modeling and teaching faith to our children. something is not right. children are not choosing faith for a lifetime. i think we desperately need to re-think our curriculum to children on sunday morning, both written and unwritten - and re-focus our leadership efforts as children's leaders. we are doing so many good things on sunday mornings, but the research still continues to show - our kids need something different. i'm currently on a mission to spark new conversation so that together we can offer a fresh faith experience to our children. and i'll be doing this full time with my company lemon lime kids.